The Bigots Who Keep On Giving

John Cole, posting at Matthew Yglesias' comments, says this regarding my post on the Pickering nomination:

But he fails to factor in the dual purpose of calling all these nominees racist. One, you defeat them as candidates, two, you get to keep the fires of racial animus stoked so that you continue to get 90% of the black vote. Whether or not Pickering is a racist matters not a hoot to Chuck Schumer and Pat Leahy- labeling him as a racist and having it stick is priority number one.

There's a reason not to factor in these purposes: They're not necessary.

Democrats certainly don't need to "stoke the fires" that keep sending blacks en masse into their arms. Republicans are doing that nicely all by themselves.

Just in the past month they've given us:

-- Trent Lott.

-- The University of Michigan.

-- The California GOP.

Democrats fare so much better when they just leave Republicans to their own devices.